Canadian Federation of Students


OTTAWA–University of Toronto Governing Council
27 King's College Circle,
Toronto, Ontario,
M5S 1A1


Members of the University of Toronto Governing Council,

On behalf of the 600,000 members of the Canadian Federation of Students, I am writing to urge you to revoke the agreement your university recently signed with Access Copyright. Not only does this agreement impose new fees on every full-time equivalent student and expose them to invasions of privacy, it is also unnecessary given modern methods of accessing copyrighted materials.

The news of this agreement came as a surprise to students and members of the academic community on campus. The agreement is harmful to students as it imposes unjustified fee increases, restricts access to critical educational materials, and forces administrations to undertake detailed electronic surveillance of students and academic staff-an initiative that will result in additional administrative costs and increased staff hours.

As students, we rely on academic materials to do our work. Imposing a new $27.50 fee per student comes at a time when many alternatives exist to Access Copyright's inefficient system for collecting money in exchange for copyright licenses.
New forms of scholarly communication and important legal developments are rendering Access Copyright obsolete. Many institutions have wisely chosen to end their relationships with Access Copyright and to pursue modern options for creating and distributing knowledge (fair dealing, open access, site licenses, in-house copyright ofices). Others have elected to continue the fight at the Copyright Board, seeking a just determination of the issues through a legitimate judicial process. In contrast, we regret to see that the administration at the University of Toronto has simply capitulated to Access Copyright's demands, even in the face of clear and more eficient alternatives.
The agreement also mandates the creation of surveillance and tracking systems to monitor the usage of copyrighted works on campus.

Because the agreement extends the definition of "copying" to include emailing, uploading, posting, displaying, storing, and linking to any copyrighted work for any purpose, these systems will require the intrusive monitoring of professors, librarians, researchers, and students and constitutes a violation of academic freedom and personal privacy. In addition, these systems will have to be built and maintained at the University of Toronto's expense.

Access Copyright is no longer the most eficient or effective option by which to obtain copyright licenses for works used on campus. Should you be interested in getting more information on the modern alternatives that are available, I would be happy to provide you with an overview at your next meeting.

The agreement that your University has negotiated is a betrayal of the academic community at the University of Toronto and across Canada. It is also a move in the wrong direction, at a time when other reputable institutions in Canada are finding other ways to obtain copyright licenses. I urge you to reconsider the agreement and to explore alternative options for providing access to copyrighted materials on your campus.

Regards,

Roxanne Dubois
National Chairperson

CC:
Shaun Shepherd, VP External, University of Toronto Students' Union
Daniel Vandervoort, External Commissioner, University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union
Asad Jamal, VP External, Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students at the University of Toronto